A STRANGE PLACE TO HIDE MONEY IN

Many people’s dream is finding a hidden treasure. In February 2016, Vemund Thorkildsen’s dream came true. He found an envelope full of money in his new apartment. Thorkildsen decided to donate all of it to a charity.

Thorkildsen is a 27-year-old man in real estate business. He bought his apartment in Oslo, Norway, from the Norwegian Cancer Society (NCS). NCS got the property after a cancer patient died and sold it.

After buying the apartment, Thorkildsen was showing it to a friend. They were trying to find another place for the fireplace. They decided to check to see if they could move the fireplace to another room. They lifted a stone in the fireplace. Beneath the stone they found an envelope filled with about $42,000. That was a lot of money.

“At first, we started to celebrate. It was like we won the lottery. “ said Thorkildsen. “But then I thought: this is not my money.”

“I don’t think that anyone knew about the money” he said. Thorkildsen made a decision. He gave the money to the Norwegian Cancer Society.

“I could go on a vacation,” Thorkildsen said, laughing. “But that money wasn’t mine, and it felt nice to give it to something good like the cancer foundation.”

The story about Thorkildsen finding the money and then giving it away came out in a Norwegian newspaper. Thorkildsen became very famous in his country. He got a lot of messages from friends and strangers. Most of them congratulated him for his honesty.

“A lot of people say that they thought I did the right thing and that’s good to hear,” Thorkildsen said. “That gives you faith in people.”